crowns made of flowers are the best kind
by strauberry23
Summary: Star takes Marco to a place she always visited as a child in try to cheer him up from all the stress of honors classes during their senior year, which turns into a conversation about the future. Neither of them knew how hard it would be to keep in touch after she left to become Queen of Mewni.
1. Chapter 1

Sunlight glinted off a pair of scissors as it cut through the air, the tear in space and time expanding and widening until a vortex appeared.

"Star," Marco said warily he stepped through the portal, blindfolded with hands spread out in front of him. "I don't know about this-"

"But Marco!" said Star, pouting at her companion (even though he couldn't see it) as she pushed him forward. "I promised you an afternoon full of fun and that's what you're going to get!" The portal closed behind them with a _pop_ as the princess fully stepped through onto solid ground.

"I appreciate the gesture, but I have a lot of homework so I'd rather go home."

Which was completely true. It was their senior year of high school and Marco was swamped with AP and honors classes, the work load practically drowning him. But he was never one to back down from a challenge and he wasn't going to stop now, especially from one that would benefit him in the long run.

Marco felt the hands on his shoulders tighten, stopping him in his tracks.

"Trust me, you'll love this," he heard Star say from behind him.

"That's what you said about the last dimension," Marco protested, "but we almost got eaten by a plant!"

"Minor detail," Star waved off, walking around to stand in front of him. "We fought it off, didn't we? And there aren't any man-eating plants in this dimension so there's nothing to worry about. It's perfectly safe!"

Marco gave her a disbelieving look, knowing she'd be able to see it even with the blindfold. "Safe by your standards or mine?"

"Okay, so maybe this dimension isn't perfectly safe," Star conceded. "But this area is, I promise!"

Marco sighed in defeat. "Well we haven't been attacked by anything yet so that's good. Plus I'm a misunderstood bad boy, so even if we are it's nothing I can't handle."

"Still going on about that huh," Star deadpanned.

"Hey, just because you can't realize the truth doesn't mean it's not true!"

"Yeah whatever. Are you ready to see this place now?" Star asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement.

Without waiting for an answer she tapped her wand to the piece of cloth from this face, causing it to disappear (she had gotten a lot better at magic in the last few years) and dramatically waved her arms toward the view in front of them.

"Tada!"

Marco couldn't help but gape at their surroundings. They were standing in the middle of a field of red flowers with tall trees around the edges, the black leaves contrasting beautifully with the white bark. The sky was more of a light gray color than the blue that he was used to, but the fluffy white clouds made it look more like Earth.

"Wow," Marco said in awe, walking forward with wide eyes as he took it all in. "This is incredible!"

"I've been wanting to take you here for a while," Star said as she took in the scene herself. "I know that red is your favorite color so I thought you would like it."

"Like it?" Marco laughed, turning to look at her. "I love it!"

Star giggled and watched Marco walk around, inspecting the flowers as he went.

"My parents would take me here for picnics all the time," she said, hands folded behind her as she followed him deeper into the field. "Well, not _all_ the time because, you know, they're royal and they were always busy, but whenever they could spare the time we would come here."

Marco had stopped walking, turning to give her a look of concern. "So you're gonna be really busy when you go back to Mewni, huh?"

The princess looked down, digging her toe into the ground and kicking at the dirt. "Yup," she said, popping the "p" at the end.

Marco could see how sad she had gotten at the mention of leaving and immediately regretted bringing it up. She was trying to do something nice and give him a fun, stress-free day and he had mentioned something she had been trying to forget. What a great best friend he was.

"Hey Star," Marco said, needing to distract her.

She looked up with a hum, only to gasp in surprise as he gave her shoulder a little push, immediately running away.

"You're it!"

Star let out a laugh and chased after him, long blonde hair billowing behind her. Sure, he probably could've come up with something better to distract her, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

They played around for a bit, laughing and chasing each other through the flowers, sometimes hiding within the trees as they took turns being "it".

Eventually they both got tired and laid down in the clearing (after Star had tackled him to the ground and they were too tired to get back up), legs spread out in opposite directions with their heads next to each other as they fought to catch their breath. The flowers were just tall enough to show in their peripherals as they looked toward the sky, watching the clouds as they floated by.

"Oh! That one looks like Buff Frog!" Star excitedly pointed toward the cloud she was referring to.

Marco tilted his head and squinted a little. "I don't see it."

"That's because you're not looking at it right!"

After a few minutes of cloud watching (aka of Star trying to convince him that the cloud over there _totally_ looked like a puppy riding a unicorn), Marco sat up and began fiddling with some of the flowers, eventually picking some of them. Star sat up as well and adjusted herself until she was sitting cross-legged beside him.

"Whatcha doin'?" she asked, trying to look at what his hands were doing in his lap.

"It's a surprise," he said, turning slightly away from her so she couldn't see what he was doing, tongue poking out from between his teeth in concentration.

Star huffed and spread her legs out straight in front of her, leaning back onto her hands with her head thrown back dramatically. She continued to watch the clouds in silence, eyes occasionally drifting over to the boy beside her as he picked more and more flowers.

After what felt like an eternity Star asked, "Are you done yet?"

"Nope," came his short reply.

Star groaned and fell backwards, lying flat on the ground as she pouted with limbs spread out like a sea star.

Periodically she would sit back up and try to look at what Marco was doing, but he always playfully pushed her away, claiming "you have to be patient, Star" and "I'm almost done, just give me a sec".

Finally after a lifetime of waiting (or what felt like it to Star) Marco proclaimed that he was finished. Star shot up and kneeled in front of him, sitting on her legs that were folded beneath her as she bounced in excitement.

"Can I see it can I see it can I see it can I see it-"

"Yes," Marco interrupted patiently, shifting to face her with his hands behind his back. "But you have to close your eyes."

"But-"

"You gave me a surprise, now it's my turn."

Star grumbled but obliged, shutting her eyes tight. She heard Marco shift closer and felt something lightweight be placed gently on her head.

"Okay, open!"

Star immediately opened her eyes and reached up, feeling soft petals around her head. She grabbed her wand and produced an ornate silver and pink mirror, gasping at the image of her with red flowers encircling her head.

"Where did you learn how to do this?" she asked, entranced that someone could make something this beautiful without magic.

"Eh," Marco shrugs, a little embarrassed. "It's just something I learned to do on my own."

Star gave him an impressed look, tilting her head to look at herself at a different angle. "You really are smart, Marco Diaz."

"I'm not in those AP classes for nothing."

Star dropped the mirror to the ground and threw her arms around his shoulders, squeezing him as hard as she could. She released him after a few seconds, much to Marco's relief (he was running out of oxygen) and leaned back slightly, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Both of their faces flushed red.

"Thank you," Star said, leaning all the way back to sit on her legs again. "It's beautiful."

 _Just like you,_ he wanted to say.

"Well you knew how stressed I have been lately and you took the time to do this for me, so making you a flower crown is the least I can do," he said instead.

"This is a flower _crown_?" Star asked, apprehension lacing through her tone.

Marco deflated a little, knowing that she never liked the idea of wearing a crown. He really should have thought this through more. "Yeah, well, I mean-"

"I love it," she interrupted with a small smile. "It's the only crown I'll be happy to wear."

Marco smiled back in relief, glad that she liked his silly little gift so much. "I'm glad."

They sat there smiling at each other, which was just fine by Marco. Star in a flower crown was an adorable sight that he would be happy to stare at all day.

"But now you need one too!" Star said, breaking the silence. She raised her wand and pointed it at his head, causing him to flinch. Sure Star had gotten a lot better over the years but there were too many mishaps in the past that started with her pointing her wand at him. It was just a natural reaction at this point.

He cautiously opened his eyes to see Star smiling giddily in front of him, grabbing the mirror off the ground and thrusting it in his direction.

"See? Do you like it?" she asked in anticipation.

Marco took the mirror from her, reveling at the contact their fingers made as the object was passed between them. He looked at his reflection apprehensively (too. many. bad. memories.) but was happy to see an elaborate crown of pink flowers sitting atop his head, blending in with his hair so nicely that it looked like the plants were growing out of his head.

(He reached up to make sure that wasn't the case, and he gave a mini sigh of relief when he didn't feel any connection between the stems and his skull.)

"Wow, Star," Marco said, impressed. "I love it!"

"Yay!" she squealed and hugged him again, this time longer and not as tight. Marco wrapped his arms around her waist and smiled into her shoulder, letting go reluctantly when Star pulled away. "But you have to teach me how you do it, okay?"

"You wanna do something without magic?" Marco asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. "You always use magic. For everything."

"I know," Star rolled her eyes, "and I really don't know how you get by without it. But you looked like you were having fun doing it so I wanna see what all the fuss is about. Like a normal Earth girl."

Marco shrugged. "If you say so. Do you wanna learn now?"

"Nah," she waved him off, plopping down on the ground next to him and looking back up at the sky. "I'm pooped for the day."

Marco laughed. Now _there_ was the Star he knew.

He lied down next to her, hands folded on his stomach as they watched the clouds drift across the sky together in companionable silence. Both of their lives were so hectic that there was rarely a quiet moment for them, so Marco was enjoying this for all it was worth.

Eventually, though, all silences have to be broken. Something had been eating at Marco and he just had to ask, and Star seemed really happy so he figured this was as good of a time as any.

"So when you have the time, where are you gonna go?" Marco asked quietly.

"Hmm?" Star hummed, turning her head to look at him.

"You said your parents came here with you a lot," Marco clarified, still looking up at the sky. "And we know your dad likes to fight monsters in his spare time. What are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna come see you, silly!" Star said, smiling easily. "I always thought that I would fight monsters, but I can always do that with you."

Marco nodded and sat up, wrapping his arms around his knees after he brought them to chest.

Star sat up as well, eyes searching her best friend's face. "What is it?"

"It's just-" Marco faltered, looking out at the field of red flowers, "fighting monsters with you is great, you know I love it. But is that all we're gonna do with the rest of our lives? And how often am I _really_ going to see you? We're both going to be so busy…"

Star looked out into the field as well, face twisting in thought. The idea of fighting monsters with Marco forever sounded great to her, but if Marco didn't want to do that…

"I will always find time to kidnap you and go on crazy adventures. That's our thing, no matter what happens. And we can do whatever you want, it doesn't have to be monsters all the time," she said with finality. Marco was her best friend on Earth and they had been together for years. She would do anything to make him happy.

Marco released his knees and sat crosslegged instead, reaching out to fiddle with a flower. He took a deep breath, trying his best to slow down his heart rate. Somehow preparing for AP tests was way easier than this. But he was never one to back down from a challenge.

"What if I wanna come here? And just spend time with you?" he asked, finally raising his eyes to meet hers. (Okay, not exactly what he wanted to ask, but close enough.)

Star gave a small smile. "As long as you make me another crown made of flowers, I will kidnap you as often as you want. And a couple more times of good measure."

Marco smiled wide at that, leaning over to gently kiss the heart on her cheek.

"Sounds perfect to me."

Star laughed and leaned her head on his shoulder with a content smile, trying her best to hide the flush on her cheeks. Her smile grew even wider when Marco rested his head on top of hers and reached for her hand, threading his fingers between hers.

They both sat there in silence, watching the flowers sway as the wind brushed through their hair, perfectly content to be together in that moment.

"But we can still fight monsters, right?"

"Of course, Star. I wouldn't have it any other way."

Looking down at their entwined hands, Marco decided that this was good enough for him. He can always ask her out on a date some other time.


	2. Chapter 2

Star laughed and threw her graduation cap up into the light gray sky, raising her arms and spinning around in the huge field of red flowers. Marco watched from the sidelines as Star's long blonde hair and open graduation gown flared out around her, his own gown open as well and pushed to the sides with his hands tucked in his pockets.

"We're free!" Star yelled in jubilation, skipping toward Marco with the huge smile she had worn for the past few hours still spread across her face. She pulled on his arms until his hands were free and wrapped them in hers, pulling him to spin around and around with her in what had become their field of red flowers. Marco couldn't help but laugh along with her, her bright smile and melodic laugh contagious.

They were finally done with high school. After 4 years and a ridiculously long graduation ceremony, they were high school graduates, and both young adults couldn't be happier.

After the ceremony Mr. and Mrs. Diaz had hosted a little party in celebration, with both Star's and Marco's families in attendance. The house had been filled with talking, food, and noise for hours, both of the recent graduates feeling light without the weight of school weighing them down. After dinner (which had been amazing, curtsy of Mr. Diaz) Marco's parents had wanted to paint portraits of the kids in their graduation gowns, so they donned the official black garments again and had fun standing in both serious and silly poses out in the backyard.

Afterwards Star had essentially kidnapped Marco, using her dimensional scissors to cutt them a portal to what had become their field of flowers, in such a rush to not be caught by more relatives for conversation that they didn't even take off their gowns.

They had come to this particular dimension a few times since Star had first taken him there over a year ago, and it had become tradition to come there after big events or if one of them needed a break. And graduating high school definitely counts as a big event and a cause for a break.

Star let go of Marco's hands but continued to spin out ahead of him with arms stretched to the side. Marco stumbled to a stop, keeping his eyes on her as he watched her fondly. The princess of Mewni had really grown within the past few years, in more ways than one. Sure she was still impulsive and destructive, but she had mellowed down. Just a little, though- she wouldn't be Star otherwise.

Eventually she spun back over to him, skidding to a stop in front of him with her hair continuing to swing around her face comically before stopping as well. "So what do you wanna do?" she asked excitedly, bouncing on her toes in front of him. "Play tag? Hide and seek? Have a dance party? Race warnicorns through the forest and see who gets kicked off first?"

Yup. Still Star.

Marco smiled and put his hands on her shoulders to make her stop bouncing. "How about we just sit and enjoy our freedom, watch the sunset together? Enjoy the moment?"

Star grinned and shrugged. "Not as fun as warnicorns, but sure!"

"Hey, I can be fun!" Marco protested. "I just think it would be nice to sit in our spot and re-lax."

"Okay mister bad-boy," she giggled, shrugging his hands off her shoulders (which he hadn't even realized were still there, much to his embarrassment) before taking off her graduation gown and sitting down, leaning back onto her hands with legs splayed out in front of her.

Marco shrugged off his graduation gown as well and spread it across the ground, sitting cross-legged on top of it. He was wearing his special dress pants, and the last thing he wanted was to get them dirty. He rolled up the sleeves of his red button down before copying Star and leaning back onto his hands, his pinky lightly brushing hers on the ground.

Despite their mutual internal panic and red faces, neither one of them moved, much to the delight of the other.

They sat in silence for what seemed like forever, both watching the beautiful display of colors take over the previously gray sky as the sun slowly sunk into the horizon. Normally for this dimension the only natural color was the bright red flowers they were currently sitting amongst, as all the trees and grass were black and white. This made the glorious colors of the sunset even more special. At some point Star moved closer and laid her head on Marco's shoulder, to which he simply smiled, resting his head on top of hers.

The sun had just disappeared from their vision Star spoke up. "I'm gonna miss high school."

Marco lifted his head to look at her in the dying light, and Star did the same. "You were all excited to be done just an hour ago."

"Yeah, and I am," she said, crossing her legs like Marco and leaning forward to play with some stems of the flowers. "It's just that now I need to go back to Mewni and learn to become _queen_ ," she said in a disgusted tone. "I'd rather sit through boring school than be miserable as a stuffy royal."

Marco looked out to the horizon, not knowing what to say, before turning back toward his best friend with a small teasing smile. "What happened to just 'enjoying the moment'?"

Star shrugged, plucking a flower from the ground and twirling it in her hand. "I guess 'enjoying the moment' should be added to the list of 'Things Star Is Bad At', right after being queen."

Marco sighed, disappointed his attempt at lightening the mood had failed. He hated seeing her like this, it was so unlike her. But even the strongest people have their moments of weakness, and Star was the strongest person he knew.

"Being queen won't be so bad," he said, bumping her shoulder with his. "You'll be able to do whatever you want and people will have to love you no matter what. That doesn't sound like a bad gig to me. Plus you're not even queen yet so you don't know how much you'll love it."

Star puffed her cheeks out, making the hearts the adorned them large and exaggerated, before buzzing her lips as the air left her lungs. They have had this conversation many times and, for the most part, their stances have not changed on the matter.

"I wish I could bring you with me," she said, her tone forcibly light while she returned his shoulder bump. "Then you could do all of the boring stuff for me."

And right there was one of Marco's faults. He knew that Star was joking, but he couldn't help the flutter of happiness in his chest at the thought of going to Mewni with her and staying by her side. He would do anything to stay with her for even just a little while longer, her inevitable departure the next day like a heavy weight on his mind. But he knew it was impossible.

He turned his head to look at her, meeting her sky blue eyes with his brown ones. He watched in fascination as the quickly dying pink light lit up half of her face, making the hearts on her cheeks slightly different colors and highlighting her hair like a halo around her head.

"Hey Marco," Star interrupted his thoughts, the silence having felt like it had dragged on forever, much to his embarrassment. "Weren't you gonna teach me how to make a flower crown earth-girl style?"

He hung his head and smiled down at his lap, brushing the distracting thoughts of Star's beauty from his mind before looking back at her. Now was not the time for his mind to run away from him.

"Of course," he said, adjusting himself so he was facing the bright red flowers in front of them. "Prepare, Miss Butterfly, to be taught by the greatest teacher ever."

Turns out Marco really was a good teacher. By the light of her wand, he patiently showed Star how to delicately weave the stems of the flowers in and around each other, carefully avoiding the petals so as to not crush them. Soon enough they both had a circle of flowers, with Marco's looking much more intricate and full, as was to be expected with all of his experience. But Star didn't do that bad of a job for her first time, and she proudly held up her crown with an accomplished smile stretched across her face.

"Look! I did it! And without magic, wow this is the best thing to happen all day."

Marco smiled in amusement and raised an eyebrow. "Better than graduating?"

Star gave a solemn nod. "Yes, this is better than graduating."

They both laughed for a while at that, and Marco was glad that she had stopped being all gloomy. Star looked down at her flower crown for a moment, fiddling with it with her fingers, before reaching out and plopping it atop Marco's head.

"Thank you, Princess Marco."

Marco smiled, reading up to touch the loose flower crown. He knew she was thanking him for way more than just the flower crown. Without thinking too much about it, he carefully placed the crown he had made amongst her hair in return, leaning closer and leaving his hands in her hair longer than was probably necessary.

"You are very welcome, Princess Star," he said softly.

As Marco's hands came down from the top of her head, Star reached out and grabbed one of them, firmly gripping his fingers with her own, eyes never leaving his. Marco sucked in a breath, frozen where he was.

"This is the only crown I'll be happy to wear," she said, looking up at him with an expression that he was afraid to identify.

Marco cleared his throat, suddenly finding it very dry. "Well this is the only crown I will ever wear," Marco pointed out, fake laughing a little.

They smiled sadly at each other. Neither brought up what was obviously on both of their minds, each content to have everything just how it was.

Star unfolded her legs so she was sitting on them instead. She leaned forward slowly, blue eyes never leaving brown, until she was touching her forehead to his. Marco raised the hand that wasn't holding Star's to the back of her neck, smoothly sliding underneath her magically soft hair. It wasn't until then that they both closed their eyes, each focused on basking in the presence of the other.

"I guess making flower crowns didn't do much to lighten the mood, huh?" Star asked softly, breaking their eternally long silence.

Marco barked out a quiet laugh, shifting his hand until it was buried into her hair. He had always loved her hair. "If anything it made it worse."

Star fluttered her eyes open and lifted her head slightly, still staying within inches of his face. Marco opened his eyes as well, although the last thing he wanted to see was the solemn expression that adorned Star's usually happy face. Okay, not the last thing - he would give anything to be able to see Star every day, no matter how she was feeling. But that goal was unattainable, and seeing her sad still hurt Marco to his core.

"I don't wanna say goodbye to you, Marco," Star whispered, and if she hadn't been so close to him he probably wouldn't have heard it.

Marco let out a shaky sigh, wetness starting to gather in his eyes, no matter how much he tried to fight it. "I don't wanna say goodbye to you either, Star."

The princess looked at him with her own wide, tearful eyes. She bit her lip and closed her eyes, the tears finally leaking down her heart-laden cheeks as she pulled away slightly and looked down to the ground. Marco sat on his knees, grabbed her hands and leaned forward, him being the one to touch their foreheads together this time, his own wet cheeks mirroring Star's.

"Please don't go," Marco said, his voice breaking. He hadn't planned on saying that, in fact he had planned to not say anything remotely like that. The knowledge that Star's leaving was as hard on her as it was for him, if not more so, had perviously been enough to weigh his tongue down. Apparently that was not true anymore. With Star leaving tomorrow, all bets were off.

Star let out a sob, tightly gripping his hands in hers. "I _can't._ "

"I know," Marco said, leaning back to sit on his feet and shaking his head. "I know I know I know, I shouldn't've said that, that was selfish of me I'm sorry- mmph!"

He let out a noise of surprise as Star suddenly leaned forward again, this time connecting lips instead of foreheads. Marco took a moment to realize that _this was actually happening_ before closing his eyes and tilting his head, a single hand reaching up to cradle her face. Apparently all bets _were_ off. And _oh wow_ was the kiss magical. Not to be cliche or anything, but it had been months since she had kissed him for the first and only time, and oh boy how he had missed it. He rose up onto his knees and Star followed suit, trying to match his height but failing. Marco smiled into the kiss - the fact that he was taller than her was one of the many things about their relationship that brought him joy.

"I thought we agreed we weren't going to do this," Marco pointed out breathless, breaking away only slightly, his lips still brushing hers as he spoke.

"We're in an alternate dimension," Star said, turning her head and lightly kissing his cheek. "And it's a special occasion. I figured it wouldn't count."

Marco smiled as Star pulled him into another kiss. His brain screamed for him to stop, to pull away before they both made tomorrow's goodbye even harder. But it was too late - his heart was already beating out of his chest, thumping faster with each kiss he and Star shared. His hand on her cheek slid down to wrap around her waist along with his other one, pulling her closer to him. Star had both of her hands in his hair, scratching lightly at his scalp as she tugged, which Marco found that he liked very much.

After what felt like an eternity, their kisses slowed down and eventually stopped. They slowly pulled away from each other, opening their eyes and drinking the other in.

"So is this why you brought me to our spot?" Marco asked once they had caught their breath. "So you could make a move?"

Star groaned and buried her face in his chest. "I wanted to end our graduation day in style and it just sort of happened, okay?"

Marco brought his hand up to her hair and said nothing, just sadly smiled to himself. _This girl is incredible_ , he thought as he ran his fingers through her blonde strands. Her impulsivity never ceased to amaze him.

Both could feel their knees growing tired for holding their weight for so long so they both adjusted until Marco was sitting on the ground with Star sitting between his legs, his arms circling her waist with Star's hands placed on top. Marco slouched slightly so he could rest his chin on her shoulder, closing his eyes to try to commit this moment to memory.

A couple months ago they had tried this. They had realized their feelings, kissed, and tried to be together. But as soon as Star's parents found out it was over.

The sad part was they both approved of him, including Moon Butterfly, much to the surprise of everybody. It was Mewnian law that prevented anything from happening - Star had to marry someone from her dimension. Preferably nobility, but that wasn't required. The thought behind the law was that a leader of Mewni had to be born in Mewni, which Marco begrudgingly admitted made sense. His knowledge of Star's home dimension was very limited, with him only knowing bits and pieces from what Star had told him over the years.

He guessed that was part of the reason why they loved coming to their field of red flowers. It was a whole different dimension, with no rules or expectations from either of their homes. They could just be Star and Marco, nothing more nothing less. Just how they wanted it.

Marco was broken from his thoughts by a sigh coming from the girl in his arms. He lifted his chin and looked at her, but she didn't appear to acknowledge him, staring up at the sky. They sat there for a good minute in silence, each looking at their respective stars.

"I'm gonna miss Earth," Star said softly, breaking the silence.

"I'm gonna miss _you_ ," Marco said, squeezing his arms around her tighter, as if that would make her stay.

Star squeezed his arms with her hands before pulling out of them, turning around and placing her thighs on top of his and wrapping her feet around his torso so that they were face to face, and he could finally see both of her heart-laden cheeks in the moonlight. Marco looked across the short distance into her eyes and couldn't help but think of the first time they had come to their dimension, when Marco almost asked her out on a date but decided that he would have time to do it later.

Star wrapped her arms around him and tucked herself underneath his chin, and Marco hugged her back as tightly as he could. He felt a drop of wetness trail down his cheek, and when he licked his lips he tasted salt.

Now, burring his face into the blonde hair of his favorite princess, he regretted his decision more than ever.

They really didn't have all the time in the world.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a year since he'd seen her.

He stared at her, the soon-to-be queen standing a few feet in front of him, the silky blue fabric of her dress brushing the ground around her. The red flowers that Marco had loved in the previous years of his life were so thick they prevented him from seeing the bottom of her dress, which he was sure was ringed with lace if the style of the dress was anything to go by. Long blonde hair was perfectly coifed on top of her head with her new bangs curled perfectly over her forehead, and a tiara had been placed amongst the ringlets.

He tore his eyes away from the offending accessory, shoving his hands in his hoodie and tried not to do something childish like pout. As if he needed a reminder of why he hadn't seen her in a year.

Star tightened her grip on her wand, nervously holding it in front of her as she bit her lip, trying to look at her best friend but only managing it for a few seconds at a time before she had to flick her eyes away. She didn't even try to look him in the eye. She knew it was impossible.

"How are you?" she asked, needing to break the silence that had blanketed them ever since they had arrived in what they had once dubbed "their dimension". They had arrived separately, an attendant of Princess Star's having gone to retrieve Marco from his dorm room. Thankfully he didn't need to explain why a weirdly dressed person suddenly appeared in their room with only a pair of scissors to his roommate, as he was in class at the time. Small mercies do exist.

Marco could only stare at Star in response to her trivial question. It was so basic that it had caught him off guard. A year ago, they wouldn't even have had to ask how the other was, they would just know. But now they had to ask, because not seeing each other in a year does that to a relationship. They were no longer in sync, no longer so in tune with the other's emotions that they immediately knew what was on their mind. Somehow Star voicing that question solidified what he had been afraid of when they had said goodbye after their high school graduation. Of growing apart, of no longer being best friends.

Marco would do anything to get those days back.

He cleared his throat from all emotion before responding. "I'm good, how are you?"

The proud set of the princess's shoulder faltered, her face falling for a split second before righting back to what had become so natural to her - a blank expression that would have made her mother proud and a younger Star want to cut off a mermaid's tail to prevent it from ever happening. If Marco had blinked he would've missed that glimpse into Star's thoughts, and he was thankful he hadn't. He'd take what he could get.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking," she said with cordial smile.

Marco winced. She spoke to him in a tone he had never heard come out of her mouth. It was a tone reserved for distant relatives, when you're trying to be nice but not completely sure how to act around them so you settle for carefully neutral.

He hated it.

"How's college?" Star asked, needing to keep the conversation going. She tried to keep the wistful tone from her voice and knew that she succeeded when Marco's expression didn't change. She didn't know if she should be happy or sad about it.

"It's been good. Finals were tough, mostly because-" he cut himself off, wincing.

Star tilted her head to the side in question. "Because what?"

"Nothing, forget about it." There was no way he could tell her about problems coming up with Jackie, causing him to not be able to focus as well as he could've on his exams. They had broken up shortly after that. Overall it was a horrible situation and Marco didn't feel like he should bring that up to Star. It felt wrong, somehow.

He cleared his throat again. "How's, you know-"

"It's fine," she cut him off with a tight smile. "Training to become queen is going just fine, thank you for asking."

Silence blanketed them once again, Marco not knowing what else he should ask her and Star internally fighting with herself over whether to bring a certain topic up with him.

"So how-"

"Speaking of-"

They both stopped talking with a grimace, not wanting to talk over the other.

Marco gestured a hand toward her. "You can go-"

"No, you can talk first, I insist," Star said with finality.

Marco nodded slowly, shifting his weight and pushing his hands deeper into his hoodie's pockets. "Okay. How are the preparations for your coronation ceremony? It's coming up, right?"

Star's smile shrunk just slightly, and there was a tightness around her eyes that Marco hated.

"It's going well. There are a lot of things to do and lots of changes to make, so I'm busy a lot. But I know my father will be happy once I'm finally on the throne, and he can go traveling."

Marco took in her carefully blank expression, the stiff set of her shoulders, the half smile that never reached her eyes. He took a deep breath before letting it out all at once, reveling in the few moments of silence before he asked the question that had been burning on the tip of his tongue ever since they had parted ways all those months ago.

"Are you happy?" he asked, needing to know. Needing to know that they had made the right choice, of choosing responsibility and duty over childish desires. Because as long as she was happy, he was happy. All of his pain of letting her go would be worth it.

He was not prepared for the way Star's face crumbled or how her shoulders curled in on themselves. She dropped her head, causing her bangs to obscure his view of her eyes that had been screwed shut. Her wand dropped to the ground as she raised her hands to hide her face, a sob shaking her shoulders. Star ran forward and closed the distance between them, grabbing a hold of his waist and squeezing tightly as she buried her face into his chest. Marco had to catch himself from falling backward by the pure force behind her action, his eyes widening in surprise. He quickly recovered, rightening his stance and, after a moment of deliberation, circling his arms around her like it was second nature.

"Star?" he asked after a minute, not completely sure what he was supposed to do.

"No, Marco," she said into his chest. "No I'm not happy. I'm the furthest thing from happy. I have to follow all these rules and my parents are pushing me to be more responsible and to be queen as soon as possible because they think it would be good for me and the council wants me to get married and I don't get to see you every day and-" she breathed in sharply before letting it out, Marco feeling the movement as his arms around her rose and fell. "It's really, really hard. I hate it, I hate everything. Especially this crown," she said, stepping back and reaching up to rip the crown off of her head, throwing it away from their place in the flowers, far enough that they couldn't see it anymore. "It's heavy and squeezes my head too much. I hate it!" She collapsed back into his chest, sobs shaking her shoulders.

Marco slowly rubbed circles into Star's back, rocking them back a forth slightly as they hugged, letting Star cry into his hoodie. After a while he could tell that Star was becoming exhausted and lowered them to the ground so they could sit amongst the flowers, her sitting sideways between his legs with her cheek pressed against his chest. His arms were wrapped wrapped around her, never letting her go for a second.

He set his chin on top of her head and tightened his arms to squeeze her for a long moment. "Gosh, Star, I… I'm so sorry."

Marco didn't know what else to say. Everything she had told him, everything she had confessed, sounded like a lot to him, and he wasn't even going through it. He couldn't imagine the kind of stress Star was going though.

He lowered one of hands and placed it on top of hers that was resting in her lap. Star slowly wove their fingers together.

"Don't make me go back," she said quietly, trying her best to talk around the lump in her throat. "I can't, I can't, I can't…"

"You're gonna stay right here, ok?" Marco said, squeezing her hand. "We're not leaving until you're happy again."

Star couldn't help the depreciative snort that came out of her mouth. "I don't know if that will ever happen."

At that Marco pressed a kiss to the top of her head and rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. "Well, we can try. What can we do to make you happy?"

Star was silent for a long time. Marco was getting ready to say something again before she let out a huge sigh. "I honestly don't know…"

"Okay then," he said, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. "How about we tackle one thing at a time? Work through it step by step? Does that sound good?"

Star nodded in agreement. "Yeah, sounds good. Wait," she sat up quickly. "Where's my wand?"

"You dropped it before you… you know, hugged me," Marco said hesitantly. He pointed over to where he could see the magical artifact laying amongst the flowers. "Over there."

Star waved her hand and her wand came flying toward her, Marco watching in awe as she caught it effortlessly.

"Woah what just happened?" he asked with a ton of incredulity lacing his tone. "You just did magic without your wand, this is huge!"

Star shrugged and twirled her wand between her fingers, not impressed at all at what she had done. "After I went back to Mewni I threw myself into magic training. My mom would always want me to do queenly things but would back off if she knew I was practicing my magic." She paused, her wand twirling stopping as she gripped it tightly in her hand. "I also missed Earth so much that it was the only way to forget about you without losing connection with you. Like, I could've done my princess responsibilities but magic training was something I did on Earth as well, so doing that made me forget about you specifically but not the feeling that I was still on Earth. Does that make any sense? I feel like that made no sense at all."

"Um… kind of?" Marco laughed slightly. "I feel like I get what you mean. I did karate more after you left because it wasn't directly related to you but it was still connected with you, if that makes any sense."

Star sat up a little straighter, eyes wide in excitement. "Yes! Exactly! Oh man, I'm so glad I wasn't the only one who did that. Whew, I feel less crazy now."

Marco's laugh was stronger this time. "I'm glad I wasn't the only one either." Silence reigned between the two of them for a few moments as Marco gathered his courage to ask what had been bothering him since Star broke down. "Now what was this about you getting…" He paused, his mouth working around the word as an apprehensive look took over his features. "…married?"

Star gave a large sigh, curling in on herself and falling sideways until she was snuggled into his chest again. "The council thinks that it would be a good idea for me to get married before I become queen. It's not an official law but it's tradition for the next ruler to at least be betrothed before their coronation, that way the future of the kingdom is more "set in stone" and the people can rest assured that there will be someone who can take over if the next ruler dies. Which, you know makes sense from a logical perspective, but since when have I even been logical?"

Marco chuckled. "You have a point."

"The council wants me to actually be married, though," she sighed. "Something about keeping me under control."

"They actually said that to you?" he asked, amazed that they could be so forward and rude.

Star waved off his concern. "Nah, I was listening outside of the door. But they do have a point." She sat up straight again, this time shifting herself so she was fully facing Marco, her legs on either side of his torso which caused her poofy dress to go everywhere. She pushed down all of the fabric with a grimace. "I don't think I'm good enough to be queen, I really do think that I will need someone there to help me. Which is really hard for me to admit because I always thought I was strong enough to do anything and now I need someone's help and-" she stopped with a deep, shaky breath, looking up to the gray sky with a singly hand covering her mouth. "It's like everything I know is wrong and I hate it, I hate it so much."

"There's nothing wrong with admitting you need help," Marco said, taking her hands in his once again. "It just shows how strong you are, that you know yourself well enough to know your limits. Not everyone is perfect, not even the great Star Butterfly."

Star stared at their hands, rubbing her thumbs against his skin absentmindedly. They stayed like that for a while and Star's expression didn't change once.

"Star?" Marco asked tentatively, squeezing their hands.

That was when she looked up, and Marco could see the beginnings of tears forming in her eyes. She tilted her head toward the sky, determined to not let them fall.

"I'm sorry," she said with a shaky laugh. "I don't cry, like, at all. This is weird."

"It's okay to cry, Star," Marco said softly, releasing her hands to wrap his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. She leaned closer, and their foreheads rested together. Star had her eyes shut tight, which finally caused her tears to fall.

There was no sobbing this time. Just a woman silently letting her tears fall, and a man silently supporting her.

Marco didn't even try to comprehend how much pressure she was under. He knew that he could never understand, not with the hand he had been dealt in life. All he could do was be there for her. He might not be able to do it forever like he wants, but the universe had granted him this one kindness and allowed him to support her in her time of need, and damn it all if he wouldn't do everything he could to make sure Star would get the best out of life.

"Hey," Marco whispered, shaking his arms slightly to get her attention. She lifted her head so it was no longer resting on his, looking at him properly. "I'm here for you, okay?"

"But you won't always be, and that's the problem," she complained, throwing her hands up into the air, almost slapping Marco in the face. "I want to come back to Earth with you, I want to spend more time with you and forget about all of my responsibilities and be a normal Earth girl… I want you to be my best friend again."

"I want to be your best friend again too, Star." He gently squeezed her waist, mentally preparing himself for the inevitable truth we was about to put into words. "But… I don't think that could ever happen."

"Why not?"

"This past year we've tried to keep in touch but it hasn't worked. What makes you think it would be any different this year?"

"Because I know what it's like to live without you," Star said firmly, "and I never want to live like that again."

At that Marco fell silent. He couldn't argue with her about the fact that this past year had been the hardest in his life. "I just don't know how this will work…" Marco said slowly. He desperately wanted to see Star more but honestly didn't know how that could happen.

"What if you had your own pair of scissors?" Star said excitedly, eyes wide as she pictured all of the possibilities of her suggestion. "Then you could visit me whenever you want!"

"But I thought one of the problems was that you wanted to come to Earth?"

Star sighed. "It is, but realistically it would be easier for you to come to Mewni than for me to leave, and seeing you is more important than going to Earth."

Marco could only stare at the princess before him. She had a sad but determined look on her face, and Marco could only marvel at the sight in front of him. He felt a pang in his chest at the thought of how much she had changed, and wasn't sure if he liked it.

"Wow Star," he said. "You're being very… mature about this."

Star gave him a reluctant half-smile. "A lot can happen in a year."

Marco returned her smile, wrapping his arms tighter around her. "Very true." His smile dropped as he thought about just exactly what had transpired in that time. "I don't know if there's anything we can do about the prince situation," he said reluctantly, getting back to the topic at hand. "But tell me about him, I'm sure we could try to find something positive about this." The last thing he wanted to do was talk about Star's possible future husband, but he didn't see a way out of it. He'd promised Star that he would help her deal with her problems so that's what he'll do, no matter how much he disliked the conversation topic.

"He's a prince from a neighboring country," Star said with slight disgust in her tone. "Our countries have been allies for years but nothing really past that. The hand in marriage of one of the Queen's sons, the third in line, was offered to the kingdom of Mewni as a gesture of friendship and solidarity against outside threats." Star stopped, looking off into the distance over his shoulder.

"Okay, but what's he like?" Marco asked, nudging her softly.

"He's rumored to be very kind and patient, yet fair with his people. Of course you can't trust rumors so I don't know if I believe that he's that good of a person," Star was quick to add. "No one is that perfect."

"I don't know, rumors are always based on truth so there could be some merit to this guy." Despite his cheerful tone the words tasted like poison on his tongue.

"Possibly," Star hummed, finally shifting her eyes to look at him. "It would be a good thing for my kingdom, for me to marry him. We would solidify our relationship with his kingdom which we've been trying to do for years."

"Wait a minute," Marco said, shaking his head in disbelief. "Are you saying that you've never meet him?"

Star nodded, a flash of anger showing in her eyes. "Yup. Which is so stupid, arranged marriages are so old-fashioned. My parents married for love, why can't I?"

There was a moment where Star and Marco looked each other in the eyes, both on the precipice of something they both knew they could never have. They leaned in closer, but as soon as Star's eyes flickered to his lips Marco cleared his throat and looked away.

"You're right, that is stupid," he said in a carefully neutral tone. "But if that's what's best for Mewni then you should do it."

Star remained where she was, eyes desperately searching his face for something, _anything_ that told her he wasn't being in the least bit sincere, but finding nothing. She leaned back, shoulders slumping slightly. Star knew that it would be a bad idea for them to start something again, but she couldn't help the ache in her heart at the thought of never being with him the way she wanted.

"Of course," Star said softly, looking into the distance over his shoulder, unable to look at him in that moment. "Of course you're right. I need to do what's right for Mewni."

The princess got up from her place on his lap despite Marco's protests, her legs wobbly from sitting for so long.

"I should probably get back."

Marco's hand, which had been raised in her direction to ever since she had stumbled getting up, faltered slightly. He stared at her, mouth gaping in surprise before quickly recovering, hand finally falling as he stood up as well. "I mean, if you have to."

Star smiled sadly. "I do."

Marco watched as she wordlessly waved her wand, her tiara flying from wherever she had thrown it to settle on top of her head like it had never left. He did his best to keep the scowl from his lips. As if Marco needed a reminder of how different they were, how they would never work.

"Well," Star said, taking a step toward her friend. "I guess this is goodbye."

"For now," Marco was quick to remind her. "Remember to get me those scissors."

Star gave him a wry smile. "As if I could forget."

She reached into her dress to produce her scissors and almost opened them, hand raised in front of her to open the inter-dimensional portal as she had done so many times before. Star turned toward her friend, taking one look at his sad yet supportive expression, and was overwhelmed by the amount of feelings she had for this man.

Star wrapped her hand around the blade of her scissors before jumping into Marco's arms once again, careful not to hurt either of them in the process.

"Goodbye, Marco," she said softly, hugging him tighter.

"Goodbye, Star," he responded as he fought back the tears that wanted to fall down his cheeks.

The princess of Mewni let herself have a few more moments with him before finally stepping back. She stared at him, subconsciously memorizing his features before she remembered she would see him soon. She shook her head a little at how stupid she was being.

Star adjusted the grip on her scissors before snipping at the fabric of space in front of her. She turned once more toward the Earth boy, smiling as she waved her hand goodbye. Star waited until he waved back before she stepped through the portal. She immediately sent an attendant back the way she came to take Marco back to his dorm, and couldn't help the wide smile that spread across her face as she let out a squeal. She hadn't been this happy in what felt like an eternity.

"Young lady!" she heard her mother yell as the queen stalked into her room. "Just where do you think you've been?"

Star took a deep breath and schooled her features into a neutral expression before turning to face her mother. She held onto the thought of Marco visiting her soon like a lifesaver preventing her from drowning, knowing deep in her heart that he would forevermore be her strength.

The burden upon her shoulders already felt lighter.


End file.
